Top 100 Greatest Music Albums
by 
Onater 
I've been listening to music as albums rather than individual songs since July 2015, and every album on this list is one I have discovered in that time. I previously had 3 favourite tracks from each album in chronological order. I changed that to 2-5 favourite tracks from each in order from best to worst, but now I've decided that I don't need any limit on how many favourite tracks.
I've pretty much moved this over to Rateyourmusic at https://rateyourmusic.com/list/Onater/onaters-top-however-many-albums-2/ because they allow more than 100 there.
Just updated this for the first time in a while and good god was it out of date. The comments and favourite tracks probably still are but whatever. I may have cheated a bit and snuck in a compilation or two.
My Top 20 songs of all time:
20. Tim Buckley - Song To The Siren (Starsailor, 1970)
19. Sam Cooke - A Change Is Gonna Come (Ain't That Good News, 1964)
18. Kermit - The Rainbow Connection (The Muppet Movie, 1979)
17. Television - Marquee Moon (Marquee Moon, 1977)
16. Bruce Springsteen - Thunder Road (Born To Run, 1975)
15. Joanna Newsom - Peach, Plum, Pear (The Milk-Eyed Mender, 2004)
14. LCD Soundsystem - All My Friends (Sound Of Silver, 2007)
13. Animal Collective - Fireworks (Strawberry Jam, 2007)
12. Sonic Youth - The Diamond Sea (Washing Machine, 1995)
11. Gordon Lightfoot - If You Could Read My Mind (If You Could Read My Mind, 1970)
10. Car Seat Headrest - Beach Life-In-Death (Twin Fantasy, 2018)
9. Joanna Newsom - Cosmia (Ys, 2006)
8. R.E.M. - Nightswimming (Automatic For The People, 1992)
7. Joanna Newsom - Sawdust & Diamonds (Ys, 2006)
6. The Tragically Hip - Escape Is At Hand For The Travellin' Man (Phantom Power, 1998)
5. David Bowie - "Heroes" ("Heroes", 1977)
4. Talking Heads - This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody) (Speaking In Tongues, 1983)
3. The Tragically Hip - Bobcaygeon (Phantom Power, 1998)
2. Joanna Newsom - Only Skin (Ys, 2006)
1. The Tragically Hip - Ahead By A Century (Trouble At The Henhouse, 1996)
- Chart updated: 07/26/2019 07:15
- (Created: 04/30/2016 05:27).
- Chart size: 100 albums.
There are 31 comments for this chart from BestEverAlbums.com members and Top 100 Greatest Music Albums has an average rating of 92 out of 100 (from 88 votes). Please log in or register to leave a comment or assign a rating.
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This chart is currently filtered to only show albums from the 1970s. (Remove this filter)
"And now we rise, and we are everywhere."
First listen August 2016
Favourite Tracks: From The Morning, Pink Moon, Place To Be, Road, Which Will, Things Behind The Sun [First added to this chart: 08/01/2017]
First listen August 2016
Favourite Tracks: From The Morning, Pink Moon, Place To Be, Road, Which Will, Things Behind The Sun [First added to this chart: 08/01/2017]
Year of Release:
1972
Appears in:
Rank Score:
17,127
Rank in 1972:
Rank in 1970s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"Myself, I long for love and light, but must it come so cruel, and oh so bright?"
First listen November 2016
Favourite Tracks: Sing Another Song Boys, Famous Blue Raincoat, Joan Of Arc, Avalanche, Last Year's Man [First added to this chart: 12/19/2016]
First listen November 2016
Favourite Tracks: Sing Another Song Boys, Famous Blue Raincoat, Joan Of Arc, Avalanche, Last Year's Man [First added to this chart: 12/19/2016]
Year of Release:
1971
Appears in:
Rank Score:
3,433
Rank in 1971:
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Overall Rank:
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Comments:
"I may make you feel, but I can't make you think. Your sperm's in the gutter, your love's in the sink."
"I may make you feel, but I can't make you think. Your sperm's in the gutter, your love's in the sink."
In an attempt to make fun of the genre of prog rock, Jethro Tull ended up accidentally making the greatest prog rock album of all time. It's like what I imagine it would sound like if Monty Python wrote a progressive rock album. As for my track ranking, I'm using the named sections from the 40th anniversary edition.
First listen July 2016
Favourite Tracks: Really Don't Mind/See There a Son Is Born, You Curl Your Toes in Fun/Childhood Heroes/Stabs Instrumental, Tales Of Your Life [First added to this chart: 07/19/2016]
"I may make you feel, but I can't make you think. Your sperm's in the gutter, your love's in the sink."
In an attempt to make fun of the genre of prog rock, Jethro Tull ended up accidentally making the greatest prog rock album of all time. It's like what I imagine it would sound like if Monty Python wrote a progressive rock album. As for my track ranking, I'm using the named sections from the 40th anniversary edition.
First listen July 2016
Favourite Tracks: Really Don't Mind/See There a Son Is Born, You Curl Your Toes in Fun/Childhood Heroes/Stabs Instrumental, Tales Of Your Life [First added to this chart: 07/19/2016]
Year of Release:
1972
Appears in:
Rank Score:
5,041
Rank in 1972:
Rank in 1970s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"Richard, you haven't really changed, I said, it's just that now you're romanticizing some pain that's in your head, you got tombs in your eyes, but the songs you punched are dreaming, listen, they sing of love so sweet."
Favourite Tracks: The Last Time I Saw Richard, Blue, River, A Case Of You, All I Want [First added to this chart: 03/31/2017]
Favourite Tracks: The Last Time I Saw Richard, Blue, River, A Case Of You, All I Want [First added to this chart: 03/31/2017]
Year of Release:
1971
Appears in:
Rank Score:
15,864
Rank in 1971:
Rank in 1970s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
First listen June 2017
[First added to this chart: 08/01/2017]
Year of Release:
1978
Appears in:
Rank Score:
3,229
Rank in 1978:
Rank in 1970s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"You see, war is not the answer, for only love can conquer hate."
This is the sound of a man who took his sadness and turned it into hope. Rather than moping about his problems, as many musicians have, Gaye did all he could to bring love and joy to as many people as he could. Call it corny and idealistic, but this is some of the most sincere and beautiful music ever written.
First listen September 2016
Favourite Tracks: Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology), What's Going On, Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler), What's Happening Brother [First added to this chart: 09/15/2016]
This is the sound of a man who took his sadness and turned it into hope. Rather than moping about his problems, as many musicians have, Gaye did all he could to bring love and joy to as many people as he could. Call it corny and idealistic, but this is some of the most sincere and beautiful music ever written.
First listen September 2016
Favourite Tracks: Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology), What's Going On, Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler), What's Happening Brother [First added to this chart: 09/15/2016]
Year of Release:
1971
Appears in:
Rank Score:
18,828
Rank in 1971:
Rank in 1970s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"You can hide beneath your covers and study your pain, make crosses from your lovers, throw roses in the rain. Waste your summers praying in vain for a savior to rise from these streets."
First listen January 2016
Favourite tracks: Thunder Road, Jungleland, Born To Run, Backstreets [First added to this chart: 05/17/2016]
First listen January 2016
Favourite tracks: Thunder Road, Jungleland, Born To Run, Backstreets [First added to this chart: 05/17/2016]
Year of Release:
1975
Appears in:
Rank Score:
15,066
Rank in 1975:
Rank in 1970s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"They check her flavor by sticking straws into her eyes."
Favourite Tracks: Hotel Overture, Escalator Over The Hill, Doctor Why, Why [First added to this chart: 11/30/2018]
Favourite Tracks: Hotel Overture, Escalator Over The Hill, Doctor Why, Why [First added to this chart: 11/30/2018]
"A loaded gun won't set you free. So you say."
Favourite Tracks: Disorder, New Dawn Fades, Shadowplay, Day Of The Lords [First added to this chart: 10/14/2016]
Favourite Tracks: Disorder, New Dawn Fades, Shadowplay, Day Of The Lords [First added to this chart: 10/14/2016]
Year of Release:
1979
Appears in:
Rank Score:
21,105
Rank in 1979:
Rank in 1970s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
"SEARCHING FOR MY BLACK DOPE, HALELELELELELUWAH!"
Side 1 is a bunch of cool, trippy, kinda spooky prog rock tracks. Side 2 is a massive, repetitive, hypnotic jam that grows in insanity throughout. Suddenly, the repetition and hypnotic rhythms of the first disc disappear on side 3 in favour of 17 minutes of scary, ambient, dissonant noise. The first half of side 4 is just ridiculous, and the second half returns to the style of the first few tracks. It's quite a journey to listen to, and not an easy one at that. But it is so hypnotic and weird, there aren't a lot of albums that can compare.
Favourite Tracks: Halleluwah, Oh Yeah, Paperhouse [First added to this chart: 11/03/2016]
Side 1 is a bunch of cool, trippy, kinda spooky prog rock tracks. Side 2 is a massive, repetitive, hypnotic jam that grows in insanity throughout. Suddenly, the repetition and hypnotic rhythms of the first disc disappear on side 3 in favour of 17 minutes of scary, ambient, dissonant noise. The first half of side 4 is just ridiculous, and the second half returns to the style of the first few tracks. It's quite a journey to listen to, and not an easy one at that. But it is so hypnotic and weird, there aren't a lot of albums that can compare.
Favourite Tracks: Halleluwah, Oh Yeah, Paperhouse [First added to this chart: 11/03/2016]
Year of Release:
1971
Appears in:
Rank Score:
9,110
Rank in 1971:
Rank in 1970s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Total albums: 16. Page 1 of 2
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Top 100 Greatest Music Albums composition
| Decade | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1930s | 0 | 0% | |
| 1940s | 0 | 0% | |
| 1950s | 4 | 4% | |
| 1960s | 9 | 9% | |
| 1970s | 16 | 16% | |
| 1980s | 11 | 11% | |
| 1990s | 24 | 24% | |
| 2000s | 23 | 23% | |
| 2010s | 13 | 13% | |
| 2020s | 0 | 0% |
| Artist | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|||
| Joanna Newsom | 4 | 4% | |
| Radiohead | 3 | 3% | |
| Swans | 3 | 3% | |
| Tom Waits | 3 | 3% | |
| Miles Davis | 2 | 2% | |
| Godspeed You! Black Emperor | 2 | 2% | |
| The Tragically Hip | 2 | 2% | |
| Show all | |||
Top 100 Greatest Music Albums chart changes
| Biggest climbers |
|---|
| Up 14 from 19th to 5thJust Got Back From The Discomfort - We're Alright by The Brave Little Abacus |
| Up 11 from 88th to 77thDummy by Portishead |
| Up 11 from 72nd to 61stF♯ A♯ ∞ [F-Sharp, A-Sharp, Infinity] by Godspeed You! Black Emperor |
| Biggest fallers |
|---|
| Down 14 from 68th to 82ndThe Black Saint And The Sinner Lady by Charles Mingus |
| Down 12 from 71st to 83rdSince I Left You by The Avalanches |
| Down 11 from 74th to 85thFor Emma, Forever Ago by Bon Iver |
| Leavers |
|---|
| In A Silent Way by Miles Davis |
| Blood On The Tracks by Bob Dylan |
| Push The Sky Away by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds |
| At The Mountains Of Madness by Electric Masada |
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Top 100 Greatest Music Albums ratings
Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AVwhere:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
m = minimum number of ratings required for an item to appear in a 'top-rated' chart (currently 10).
AV = the site mean average rating.
Showing latest 5 ratings for this chart. | Show all 88 ratings for this chart.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Chart ratings | Avg. chart rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 03/25/2025 20:14 | DrewHamster | 315 | 79/100 | |
| 03/20/2025 15:23 |  SomethingSpecial | 1,089 | 85/100 | |
| 01/15/2025 16:35 | Exist-en-ciel | 156 | 97/100 | |
| 03/30/2021 01:12 |  DriftingOrpheus | 78 | 91/100 | |
| 11/29/2019 15:48 |  ForegroundNoise | 473 | 87/100 |
Rating metrics:
Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some charts can have several thousand ratings)
This chart is rated in the top 1% of all charts on BestEverAlbums.com. This chart has a Bayesian average rating of 91.9/100, a mean average of 92.2/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 92.6/100. The standard deviation for this chart is 6.9.
Top 100 Greatest Music Albums favourites
Showing all 14 members who have added this chart as a favourite
Top 100 Greatest Music Albums comments
Showing latest 10 comments | Show all 31 comments |
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From ForegroundNoise 11/29/2019 15:49 | #245270
ForegroundNoise 11/29/2019 15:49 | #245270
Not sure why I hadn't already given this 100, since your chart is obviously a brilliant labour of love. One of my faves on this site for sure!!
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From Timooosterink 11/29/2019 10:27 | #245267
nice
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From pctrooper 10/04/2019 19:14 | #243383
Great choices. you crushed it.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From Timooosterink 08/12/2019 11:06 | #241091
Nice chart! I like the effort you have put into this
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 
gidgidi 06/14/2019 13:34 | #237515
gidgidi 06/14/2019 13:34 | #237515
Great picks!
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From mianfei 06/14/2019 07:10 | #237509
It is rare to see a chart with so many as sixteen artists in common with my own (this figure includes Steven Osborne for his Messiaen works). Moreover, there are others in my large backlog of recordings to listen to , including ‘Escalator Over the Hill’.
One recording I would recommend you that it seems you haven’t heard is ‘I’m the One’ by Annette Peacock. Little-known on this site, ‘I’m the One’ is undoubtedly a masterful work of soul power that surpasses most black artists at soul music. The title track and ‘Pony’ turn funk into lush soundscapes of both beauty and personal power.
Two other recommendations are the Trees Community’s ‘The Christ Tree’ and Victoria Williams’ ‘Swing the Statue’. These in many ways predate the “freak folk” of the mid-2000s by thirty and fifteen years respectively, with the former being the most beautifully transcendent psalms as communitarian music-making and the latter a deeply personal work of wonder at the beauty of little things.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 
Glitterboiii 01/26/2019 18:36 | #230698
Glitterboiii 01/26/2019 18:36 | #230698
Fantastic chart! So many of my favorites up here!
Please update this like in any way so Twin Fantasy gets its points.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (1 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
From ForegroundNoise 12/10/2018 09:29 | #226676
ForegroundNoise 12/10/2018 09:29 | #226676
Absolutely love the notes you've added and the lyrics from each album too, really great stuff :)
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From Azbest2000 05/13/2018 17:54 | #214757
Professionaly made list. You have an eclectic taste and it's clear to see that you are really interested in music.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 
DommeDamian 11/24/2017 07:05 | #201989
DommeDamian 11/24/2017 07:05 | #201989
By any means one of the greatest charst, man. The descriptions really hits hard, as of how well-written and well-structured they are. Keep up the phenomenal work :)
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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